 which is to first have $1,000 saved as a starter emergency fund, and then second, become debt-free everything but the house using the debt snowball. Third, build an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. And then fourth, start investing 15% of your income. In your case, if you had no payments but a house payment and you saved 15% of your income, well, 15% of $40,000 is $6,000. That's $500 a month.